


The Means to One End and a New Beginning

by TeriTheTacticalUnicorn



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Normandy-SR2, Post-Canon, Solas in a world with no magic, lol, multi-fandom - Freeform, tags to be updated as I write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:34:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23566918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeriTheTacticalUnicorn/pseuds/TeriTheTacticalUnicorn
Summary: Allisyn 'Allie' Trevelyan has stopped Solas from destroying Thedas, but there are serious repercussions after she pushes her own magic into Solas' spell to stop it. Now they are both in a world that has no magic, on a planet not their own that has gone through just as, if not a worse traumatic experience. The crew of the Normandy are more than happy to take in a new stray as they teach Allie about their worlds, their cultures and their ways of life. Solas is an egghead, but Miranda finds some redeeming qualities in him.
Relationships: Female Shepard/James Vega, Garrus Vakarian/Female Inquisitor, Javik/Liara T'Soni, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau/Jack | Subject Zero, Male Shepard/Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Miranda Lawson/Solas | Fen'Harel, Urdnot Bakara | Eve/Urdnot Wrex
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astuarian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astuarian/gifts).



> I couldn't have gotten this much down without sutsop and her wisdom. Thanks big sis!

Allisyn Trevelyan had no idea what interrupting Solas’ spell would do, but she never, in ten ages, would have imagined  _ this! _ They stood on a war-torn battlefield that looked like a city, but not a city. At least not one Allie had ever seen. Denerim had been the largest city she had ever visited in her lifetime. This place even smelled wrong. 

Solas was lying unconscious atop a pile of rubble off to her side and she rolled her eyes; he had once been her friend. She pulled him up just as he began to wake to touch a long gash on his cheek. She tried to heal it with her magic, but nothing happened.

“Let’s go, you right arsehole. You need a healer or that will leave a nasty scar,” Allie said as she hoisted him up with her right arm. She still hadn’t forgiven him for leaving her with only one.

They made it to what looked like an advanced camp before a man twice Cullen’s size came over and helped her with Solas. “Are you civilians? It doesn’t matter, let’s get Shiny to a doctor.” The human man was wearing armor with a strange arch symbol on it.

“Name’s Vega. This area was supposed to be evacuated after the Reapers landed.” Reapers? What in the Gods were Reapers?

“Allisyn, that sorry nug is Solas. Thank you for your help, ser,” Allisyn said as she pulled her tattered leather mages coat off, letting it fall behind her. She walked by what she recognized as soldiers milling about and gathering their dead in what passed as underclothes. The women wore only a thin, sleeveless shirt and leg wrappings with no fur, almost as thin as silk, but skin tight.

“What is this place? What happened here?” Solas asked as he finally lifted his head to look around.

“You’re kidding? The giant machines? The husks of our fallen chasing after civilians? Did you hit your head as well as your cheek?” the bulky man asked Solas as he led them into a building, Allisyn assumed. There were funny cots full of people with a wide range of injuries; some of the injuries Allie had never seen.

“I’d like to speak to your superior officer, where can I find them?” she asked, looking around for anyone who looked like they were in charge, trying to stay calm when she realized this wasn’t Thedas.

“He is currently in surgery, nearly lost his life to win this war,” he said after placing Solas on a cot and turning to see Allisyn. Her golden blonde hair was covered in dirt, and he could see that the loss of her left arm was not a recent occurrence. He grabbed a man in a weird hat and pulled him over.

“Joker, can you take her to Tali and Garrus? I’ll stay with the bald one,” Vega said and Joker looked her over as he grabbed strange metal sticks. It looked like he was using them to help himself walk.

“No problem, she’s waiting for John to get out of surgery in the med tent. Come on..? What’s your name?” he asked, but it wasn’t rude or forced.

“Allisyn Trevelyan, my advisors called me Allie,” she said as she stepped closer, her back stock straight from years of military training while she was the leader of Leliana’s honor guard. 

“I’m Jeff, but everyone calls me Joker. Come on, I’ll take you to Shepard’s wife, she can fill you in,” Joker said and brushed past her back out into the daylight. 

Allie followed Joker for a few minutes as he rambled about the giant, black ‘machines’ called Reapers that she could see littering the horizon and some floated in the cloudless sky. “This had to be hard to overcome, why did they come to your star?” she asked after Joker had told her that the Reapers had gone to many planetary systems in their galaxy, riddled with more words she didn’t understand. 

“This has happened every 50,000 years since way before our planet had intelligent life. Earth has some pretty damn stubborn inhabitants, though,” Joker said, almost superiorly. 

“The man I arrived with, he tried to destroy my world with magic. I don’t even know how we got here… or where  _ here _ is,” Allie admitted, though it was quite obvious she didn’t belong just by her clothing.

“Let’s get you something a little more comfortable, come on,” Joker said as he headed towards the end of the road. A sleek, metal bird sat in a field with a few people standing guard. One of them was blue, the other looked like a bird, even screeched at her. 

“What was that?” Allie asked as she uncovered her ears.

“Garrus was asking where you had come from, you can’t understand him?” Joker asked, almost confused until she shook her head. Every child born had a ten minute, minor brain surgery to implant their translators before being able to leave the hospital. Even children born at home had to have one. “We’ll get you situated with a translator. Miranda!” he called out. 

“What is it Joker?” a thin, dark haired woman stepped out from around a corner with some kind of glowing orange wristband.

“This is Allie, she has never gotten a translator and she can’t talk to Tali if she doesn’t have one. Got ten minutes?” he asked and she nodded, motioning for the young Inquisitor to follow her.

Ten minutes later, Miranda called Garrus, the bird-man, into what was called a med-bay, “Vakarian, this is Allisyn Trevelyan. And does she have quite the story to tell,” Miranda said, an eyebrow raised.

“Hello Allisyn, I’m Garrus. Joker said you needed a shower and some clean clothes. Today seems to be your lucky day, Ashley left some clothes and said you could have them. Come with me,” Allisyn was so confused, and now lightheaded, but followed Garrus back into the ‘elevator’ and up to a door with Captain’s Cabin etched into it.

Garrus had to show her how to use the shower, give her a crash course on which bottles of soap to use and gave her a pair of cargo pants, a blue and white Alliance tank and a pair of black combat boots that thankfully, were her size. Miranda had brought her a bag and said it was underwear, which confused the fade out of Allie, but Miranda told her how to put them on. 

After an hour standing under a warm waterfall coming from the showerhead, she felt so clean, cleaner than she may have ever been in her 29 years. Her golden locks were soft, and shone even in the harsh, artificial light. She had never worn more comfortable clothes or shoes. Miranda even gave her an omni-tool; it was a black bracelet that brought up what Garrus called a virtual interface. 

After a conversation and a meal with Garrus, and the blue woman she saw outside the ship, whose name she learned was Liara, and that she was part of a completely female race called Asari, Allie was yawning. “Shepard won’t be out of surgery for a few more hours, let the woman sleep,” Liara said apologetically.

Liara showed her to the crew quarters and an empty bed. The beds were made of metal, had two beds  _ attached _ to each other, one atop the other. She picked a bottom bed and pulled her boots off. Socks were a new thing for Allie, but they kept her feet warm enough to take her shoes off and she wasn’t complaining. 

It didn’t take long for her to fall into a deep, restful sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have some REAL scientific facts going on about how the Mass Effect devs messed up on the amino acid aspect of the universe and I right it with some interesting stuff about Allisyn and Solas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This stook a lot of time on google!

When Allie woke, a strange, fish like creature was standing across from her. “You smell different,” he said as his four eyes blinked.

“You are a new one. I’m Allie Trevelyan, who’re you?” she asked as she sat up, instinctively looking for a window to tell the time, forgetting her omni-tool would tell her. 

“Javik, a Prothean,” he answered, walking away, ignoring the amused look on her face.

Allie pulled her boots back on, tying the laces how Miranda showed her. She walked out of the crew quarters and into the mess. Garrus was sitting at one of the two metal tables, eating what looked like mashed potatoes, but they were green. “What is that?” she asked as she looked at the strange food.

“Our amino acids are different, so our food looks and tastes different from yours. Humans have levo-amino acids. Turians and Quarians have dextro-amino acids. It also makes levo-dextro relations difficult, as the two cannot procreate, and some levo are allergic to dextro-amino acids,” Garrus explained, as Miranda walked in with a strange device in her hand.

“Looks like she isn’t entirely human, Garrus. Our new friend has both dextro and levo amino acids. Since we don’t know anything about their planet, it is entirely possible that their people have successfully procreated between the two for hundreds of years,” Miranda said, handing the device to Garrus, who seemed awestruck. 

“He’s awake!” Liara said as the elevator opened. Everyone stood and headed for the elevator to see their Commander.

The walk to the makeshift hospital wasn’t a long or particularly vocal one. By the time everyone arrived, a brown-haired man and a red-haired woman stood in the room with an alien in a helmet whose eyes seemed to glow through the dark mask. 

“Commanders, Tali, this is Commander Trevelyan. She is not from our planet, though. She is from somewhere called Thedas, and doesn’t know how she or her companion arrived on Earth.

“Apparently I am an ‘enigma’, according to Miranda. My aminos are different, or combined? I don’t know these words. I apologize. I am Allie Trevelyan, and apparently my story is amazing,” she said before retelling her tale, beginning with when she was a prisoner in Haven almost six years prior. 

“That is quite a story, Allie. I am John Shepard, and this is my younger sister, Jane, and my wife Tali. Welcome to the team,” John said as he lifted his hand. She took it, shaking it and nodding.

“I have already called Hackett, Commander. He has expressed his interest in recruiting Miss Trevelyan,” Jane said as she tapped her omni-tool to Allie’s. It pinged with a new email.

“What’s an EMAIL? Is that like when you send a raven with a letter?” Allie asked as she looked at her arm and shook it, trying to get the pinging to stop. She jumped when the interface sprung to life.

“I’ll show you later, Allie,” Garrus said with a chuckle in his dual-tones. He escorted her out of the room after they both said goodbye.

“Who’s Hackett, Garrus? And what does he want to recruit me for? I have been recruited into some pretty big things in the past six years. I don’t know if I have it in me to save another world,” she said, while Garrus helped her pull her light blonde wavy locks into a warrior’s tail. It hung the length of her spine and then some, since it wasn’t in the fancy braids it usually sat in. She was grateful for what Miranda called a hairband; it was this stretchy material, and it worked better than leather strips which had to be constantly tightened. 

“You saved your world. From that Corypheus guy? And then from the bald guy in the hospital?” he asked, even though he had heard the story a couple times over.

“Yea… it cost a lot. Bringing us here probably cost me everything. I may never see my twin brother again, my mother or father, my friends, my castle in the mountains. I am sorry that I do not know the ways of your cultures, ours is very different.” She went on to explain that the clothing was much more practical for battle, the weapons didn’t need heat sinks or thermal clips. She was a mage; Ice magic was her specialty. 

Garrus could see the sadness in her ocean blue eyes. Thin, lightning-like scars that traveled from where her arm was amputated to the middle of her chest. This woman had seen some shit, had probably sat in a bar and talked with friends about ‘The Good Old Days’ like he did with Shepard and Tali. Then it hit him. 

“What if we did find your planet?” he blurted out. 

“We’re… what did Liara call it? Pre-spaceflight. We don’t have giant metal birds… ships. Or the cars James showed me. I grew up in a mage prison from the age of five. I don’t think we will find it, Garrus, and what would you do if we did?” she asked, looking up at him.

“That’s… a fair point. Come on, I’ll take you to Hackett,” he said, offering her a three-fingered hand. Taking it, she nodded.

After her meeting with Hackett, now she had told her story to over ten strangers. The funny part was that none of them seemed to think she was lying or making false claims, especially after Garrus pulled out the datapad and showed her blood test results. She left after accepting Hackett's offer to join the Alliance.

They had taken blood from Solas too, though his DNA, whatever  _ that _ was, was different. He also had a mixture of the amino… things. 

Once back on the ship, Allie sought out Liara. "Can you tell me why these amino acid things have everyone intrigued? I feel like a trapped nug." 

"You're going to have to explain what a nug is later. Amino acids are organic compounds that contain amine and carboxyl functional groups, along with a side chain specific to each amino acid. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, although other elements are found in the side chains of certain amino acids." 

Dextrorotary compounds have a positive specific rotation, while levorotary compounds have a negative specific rotation. Any pair of enantiomers have equal but opposite specific rotations. This is what makes reproduction impossible between dextro and levo based life forms. You and your former companion are the exceptions; your DNA has allowed for the amino acids to coexist within the same cells," Liara finished, leaving Allie feeling more confused than ever.

"So you're saying someone from my world could procreate with both levo and dextro based life forms?" she asked, and Liara nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years have passed by quickly for Allie, and now they believe they have found Allie's homeworld.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter today just to get it out of my docs because it's been finished for a week LOL

Allisyn had been a part of the Alliance for three years. She had been in a relationship with Garrus for two of those years, and they now shared the XO quarters on the  _ Normandy _ . Allie was now a full-fledged Lieutenant, and currently in N7 training; Hackett said her years of military training on her homeworld would play a huge part in her success in the Alliance, he hadn’t been wrong.

John had become a great friend to Allie, Solas had been given a job on the Citadel repairs. John had a hand in putting her name forward as a Spectre, and was now her training officer for both N7 and Spectre training. 

Now she sat in the mess in a pair of tight shorts and her favorite cut-off sweater while she read over a datapad, a cup of coffee in her hand. Liara had gone back to her ship that chased Hagalaz’s stormfront, Tali had gone back to Rannoch to help relief efforts since the Geth had already done so much to help the Quarians. 

John had been making an effort to go to the currently undiscovered star systems in the Milky Way to find Thedas, dropping probes as they went. They hadn’t had any success yet, but Allie remained hopeful.

“Hey, why are you up this early?” Joker asked as he sat across from Allie. 

“Garrus purrs in his sleep, though I had gotten used to it. I also wanted to get a workout in before reading the reports from Hackett on Solas,” she answered, smiling at her friend as she curled her long legs underneath herself.

“He  _ purrs _ ?” Joker asked, trying to stifle a laugh. Allie gave Joker a warning glance.

“I don’t purr.” Garrus grumbled as he sat in the chair next to Allie.

“You purr.” She affirmed. Garrus ruffled her messy morning curls as she laughed. She was still getting used to having two arms again; she had had only one for four years. John then strode into the mess and without a backward glance to his crew, poured a cup of coffee for himself. 

"Wrex forwarded a navpoint to a world the Krogan visited a couple thousand years ago. According to records the scouts never returned. Allie, you once said you've seen Krogan 'trophies' before in one or two of the castles on your planet? It's a good place to start." John said as he turned around to face a now awestruck Allie, Garrus, Miranda and Joker. 

"It's true. I saw a Krogan's head mounted in the Winter Palace trophy room; at the time I didn't think anything of it besides that I had never seen a creature like it in my life. It was definitely a Krogan, however. I had seen another on a mission to Caer Bronach; a hidden castle built into a mountain. They were changing Seekers there with Red Lyrium." She said as she recalled the handful of times she'd been allowed (and the one time she hadn't) to be in the Trophy Room at the Winter Palace and the trip that made Cassandra the leader of the Seekers of Truth. 

"To the Krogan DMZ then, there's a cluster that only Krogan have been to, hidden in the nebula." Shepard said and everyone went to their stations; Allie slipped her slippers onto her feet and helped Joker up as the two saluted and made their way to the bridge. 

"Is this really happening, Joker? Am I really this close?" Allie asked, unbelieving.

"We're really this close, little sister." He said, placing the  _ SR-2 _ hat on her head that he had gifted her the day she finished flight school to be his new co-pilot. Smiling, Allie waited until Joker sat to take her place in the co-pilot's chair and check their current departure status.

"Alliance docking, this is the  _ Normandy _ requesting clearance for departure, vector 8-2-7 dash 4-8 via the Krogan DMZ." She said in a tone more than a few people would stand at attention for on her planet. 

" _ Normandy, _ you are cleared for departure. Have a safe flight. Over and out." The dock manager said and Joker nodded and flipped switches on the virtual flight deck in front of him. The ship shook slightly when the docking clamps demagnetized to let her free. It was a matter of moments before they were off to FTL. 

The green and blue nebula nearly reminded her of the breach in a way. Perhaps it was the way it swirled slowly, or the same sickly green color that the sky burned with for nearly a year. Shepard’s voice startled her as it came through the ships comms from the shuttle bay; “Ground team meet me in the armory to suit up, Allie is running point on this one, men. You take her direction from her. Shepard out.” 

Allie nodded towards joker before climbing out of her seat and walking barefoot towards the elevator at the back of the CIC; her hands were shaking as she rubbed them together nervously. Garrus, both Shepards, and Grunt were already putting their armor on when she padded barefoot across the metal floor towards her loadout locker. Garrus came up behind her and placed his chin atop her head, “Will you be ok, Allie?” He asked, genuine concern was evident in his dual-toned purr as he noticed her hands fumbling for her helmet she wouldn’t need. 

“I don’t know what the planet's condition is, Garrus. I don’t know if Solas succeeded or if I stopped him in time,” she said, looking at the metallic gleam on her left arm prosthetic from the artificial lights. Joker’s voice came over the speakers in the bay as she turned to hug Garrus.

“Found a spot to land in a mountain ridge, authorization to put her on the ground, little sister?” He asked.

“Granted Joker.” She said before pulling her sweater over her head, and pulling on a pair of cargo pants and a grey shirt, attaching a pistol to her magbelt before tying her boots. They were on the ground before she could get the second shoe tied.


End file.
